Isaiah Thomas Isn’t A Free Agent Until 2018, But By Then Teams ‘Better Bring Out The Brinks Truck’

Isaiah Thomas had a stellar season last year in his first full season with the Celtics, making the All-Star team and helping lead them to the playoffs. Even though Thomas was unsuccessful in recruiting Kevin Durant to join him in Boston next year, the C’s did add Al Horford while retaining most of their young core, so they should be in the conversation for second-best team in the East next season.

As happy as Thomas assuredly is to see Horford come to Boston, he’s probably not all that thrilled with the fact that he is set to make only $6.5 million next season, a whopping $20 million less than his new teammate. At least Horford is an All-Star as well; although, Thomas is probably even more annoyed that players nowhere near as talented as him are cashing in around the league due to the substantial increase in the salary cap this offseason.

The worst part for Thomas is that he won’t even get to explore the market next summer either when the cap jumps over $100 million. He is locked up for another $6.2 million in 2017-18 after signing a four-year deal when he went from the Kings to the Suns back in the summer of 2014.

Once Thomas finally gets around to being a free agent, though, assuming he doesn’t sustain any major injuries or have a significant drop off in production over the next two seasons, he’s going to get paid. He knows it, too.

When asked about his 2018 free agency during a recent Celtics summer league game, Thomas warned teams that if they wanted his services, they would have to pony up the cash.

“They better bring out the Brinks truck,” quipped Thomas during the Celtics’ summer league game on Saturday against Chicago. “They’re paying everybody else. I gotta get something.”

On one hand, Thomas can only blame himself (and his agent) for signing a long-term deal two seasons before the cap spike, but on the other hand, you can certainly understand his frustration, especially when a guy who came off the bench for Boston last season is set to make $11 million more than he will next year.

He can take a lesson from Steph Curry, though, in how to ignore a laughable paycheck discrepancy with his teammates.